RCMP have officially prohibited the entire family of Swiss Arms/SIG 540 family. This after being sold as (RCMP approved, of course) restricted and non-restricted (based on barrel length) rifles in Canada for 12 years. They retail for about $3000-$4000 a piece, depending on quality/trim level. Now ~1,800 owners of them must turn them in without compensation, or face jail time for possession of a prohibited weapon. And the RCMP's suggestion? "Go back to the store or previous owner you purchased from and ask for a refund".

What a crock. In one fell swoop, anywhere from $5.4-$7.2 million dollars gone without compensation. And with no public oversight, either, because the gun classification is done by the RCMP and the RCMP aren't elected.

Edit: Oh man the best part is the online FRT database (essentially holds info on every specific model/manufacturer of firearm ever imported, as well as the current status non-restricted, restricted, prohibited) apparently is not available to anyone who isn't a firearm verifier, public agent, or police. So good fucking luck finding out if a firearm you own has been prohibited or not, because the RCMP don't make announcements about it unless you confront them with the changed status first._________________Whatever happened to the heroes?

the God-Emperor of Mankind technically doesn't tell me anything, since his broken body sits upon the throne holding together the Imperium and keeping the monsters of the Warp at bay through sheer force of will, but the mages and inquisitors who speak on his behalf tell me that i should slay all nonbelievers lest they provide a foothold for the vilest forces of the universe to annihilate all that is dear to us

thankfully, American conservatives will see to it that my religious practice of destroying the infidels can continue unabated!

the God-Emperor of Mankind technically doesn't tell me anything, since his broken body sits upon the throne holding together the Imperium and keeping the monsters of the Warp at bay through sheer force of will, but the mages and inquisitors who speak on his behalf tell me that i should slay all nonbelievers lest they provide a foothold for the vilest forces of the universe to annihilate all that is dear to us

thankfully, American conservatives will see to it that my religious practice of destroying the infidels can continue unabated!

And I will gladly murder thousands of psykers each day to let you continue your religious practice._________________

Really, the question hasn't been solved yet (Or maybe it was, when Yanukovych fled?). I said I'd eat it if the next *President* was Tyahnybok. Currently the temporary President is still Turchynov, head of the Rada. Yatsenyuk is Prime Minister, Sych is deputy-PM. So either the bet is still going, assuming that because Turchynov assumed the presidency he did so out of emergency and not by popular vote and as such is disqualified, or it ended when Turchynov took the Presidency after Yanukovych fled.

Baird met with the new Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and acting president Oleksandr Turchynov, among others, and said everyone is “tremendously concerned by provocative actions.”

Yatsenyuk and Turchynov assumed their positions in government after the Ukrainian parliament voted to oust President Viktor Yanukovych, who then fled Kyiv.

Russia has insisted that its military exercises were planned before the crisis in Ukraine escalated, but members of the acting Ukrainian government have accused Russian troops of trying to take control of some airports in the southern region of Crimea, which is strongly pro-Russian.

“We must all work together to support Ukraine,” Baird said.

Asked how Ottawa’s support for anti-government protesters and condemnation of Yanukovych’s regime may affect diplomatic relations, Baird replied: “Canada is not the world’s referee … We certainly don’t apologize for standing with the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom.”

KYIV, Ukraine -- Russia's parliament granted President Vladimir Putin permission to use the country's military in Ukraine and also recommended Saturday that Moscow's ambassador be recalled from Washington over comments made by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The unanimous vote in an emergency session formalized what Ukrainian officials described as an invasion of Russian troops in the strategic region of Crimea. With pro-Russian protests breaking out in other parts of Ukraine, Moscow now could send its military elsewhere in Ukraine.

"I'm submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country," Putin said before the vote.

Yeah the situation is turning to shit alright.
Ukraine: Far-right armed with bats patrol Kiev
And as the BBC journalist notes, military agression from Russia will likely only strengthen the fascists._________________A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want? ~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Russia executed a de facto military takeover of Crimea, a strategic region in Ukraine, as the parliament in Moscow gave President Vladimir Putin a green light Saturday to proceed to protect Russian interests.

The newly installed government in Kyiv was powerless to react to the swift takeover of Crimea by Russian troops already in Ukraine and more flown in, aided by pro-Russian Ukrainian groups.

The explicit reference to the use of troops escalated days of conflict between the two countries, which started when Ukraine's pro-Russian president was pushed out by a protest movement of people who wanted closer ties to the European Union.

So essentially Crimea has been taken over by military forces unknown, most likely Russian, with no form of identification or Insignia._________________Whatever happened to the heroes?

The RCMP have struck again. They've now reclassified all versions and variants of the CZ-858 manufactured from 2007-current as prohibited weapons. The problem: unlike the Swiss Arms rifles they reclassified last week, there are a lot of CZ-858s in Canada, >10,000 of them. At a selling price of ~$700, that's another ~7 million dollars worth of firearms that were purchased legally with the RCMP's rubber stamp of approval that are now illegal to own. These things were literally sold everywhere (including at Cabelas and other major sporting goods stores) and were super popular because they looked like an AK but shared no parts in common with the AK (which is a prohibited firearm in Canada, along with all it's variants), were decent quality for the price, fired cheap and easy to get surplus ammo and were good for taking small and medium game up to and including deer, as well as having lots of aftermarket parts available.

Once again, turn them in without compensation, or face charges for possession of a prohibited weapon._________________Whatever happened to the heroes?

that's kinda what i was thinking (not about the comic) - npr was saying this morning that putin's justification for sending in troops was to protect ethnic russians .... which did sound a lot like hitler's reason for invading poland.

and it also sounds like both "protected" ethnic groups were experiencing about an equal amount of undue harassment, i.e., none at all.

now, of course, we in the u.s. will have to listen to sarah palin crowing about how she predicted this, and all the other repubs faulting obama for causing this be being "weak"...without having to come up with how they would have prevented it from happening. because a former kgb agent who is now the dictator in all but name of a former superpower which still has lots of soldiers and nukes and other nasty things, and which he very much wants to move back into the top rank, is totally going to be intimidated by a president who flexes his muscles, or whatever you have to do to look "strong"._________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

Europe seriously needs to find ways to stop being so edit: dependent on Russia's gas. It's bullshit that we can't do more than just say angry words because we don't wanna be gasless. The news said we'd be fine, but countries like Italy might get in trouble if Russia closes the gas tap._________________www.cobrasphinx.nl

Last edited by Yinello on Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:49 am; edited 1 time in total

Joined: 04 Sep 2006Posts: 2416Location: North of the People's Republic of Massachusetts

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:45 am Post subject:

Yinello wrote:

Europe seriously needs to find ways to stop being so independant on Russia's gas. It's bullshit that we can't do more than just say angry words because we don't wanna be gasless. The news said we'd be fine, but countries like Italy might get in trouble if Russia closes the gas tap.

I think you mean 'dependent' here?

I'd heard a suggestion that the U.S. could release 500,000 barrels of oil per day into the market from our oil reserves in Texas and Louisiana in order to severely hurt Russia's economy. There are almost 700 million barrels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve right now (http://www.spr.doe.gov/dir/dir.html), so we could do that for a couple of months without really putting a major dent into it.